A nightmare realized...

2003 R50 - 88,000+.

I'm suspecting a heater core problem.

I (vaguely/lightly) kept smelling antifreeze/coolant yesterday in about seven hours worth of driving. Kept peeking at the expansion tank throughout the day for any drop in the level of fluid, but never saw that happen.

When I got home last night, the passenger floorboard was (is) wet. Pretty well-saturated. Again though, the smell is not strong, but I'm as sure as I can be that it's antifreeze/coolant.

Interestingly, there is only wetness on the floor itself - not on the "walls" (for lack of the proper term) that lead-up from the floorboard (the interior body/shell that wraps around/covers/separates the firewall from the interior compartment).

Unfortunately, I seriously need to consider a temp/quick fix on this for several reasons.

One reason is that (and I'm sure this is the case for others these days) money is extremely tight, which means I am at least compelled to "attempt" to do the work myself.

Secondarily, I have had four (4) surgeries on my spine (neck and low-back) over the years (will be 50 in a few days) - I am not real "healthy" due to this. To give an idea of my speed/lack of mobility and loss of dexterity these days, replacing the upper and lower radiator hoses (alone) on this car last fall took me, I don't know, something like a total or five-six HOURS ... over the course of about 2 & 1/2 - 3 DAYS (cold weather/old man body - and VERY TIGHT work space - as those who have done it know).

Third, I have, perhaps, THEE most important meeting of my entire life coming-up on Monday, and again, it will be about three hours from home, which again means a total of about six to seven hours of driving.

Any and all advice/suggestions/opinions as to the simplest way of by-passing this heater core temporarily would be VERY GREATLY appreciated. I'm hoping for some sort of fairly simple step-by-step info/guidance here - though I'm happy to take technical/complex directions too if that's what I can get.

I need to conserve as much energy/strength as I can on this job.

So far this morning just LOCATING the heater core's exact location (I suppose buried DEEP within the dash/firewall, eh?) has been a job in itself - physically - for me. The "mental beating" will be sure to follow if I can't get some progress on this.

I cannot allow myself to get beat on this project already. That is not an option.

I simply can NOT allow myself to get down, or beat on this... I must get her running sufficiently for Mondays trip.

Thanks in advance,
g...

 

sorry about the situation your in. hope things get better. not sure about in a mini (everything seems more compacted) but in an e30, swapping the core isn't that hard. given how important your meeting is, can you spare funds to just rent a car for that day and focus on that instead of the repair? you can always do the repair at your pace later.

 

Thanks. Yes, I may have to rent a car :(

I do have "a few" things in my favor the next few days.

The weather (and forecast) is a BIG plus.

Also I have time (a few days), and I do have fairly decent mechanical/repair experience.

So, with these positives, I am going to forge-ahead, and give it my absolute very best shot. I don't see that I have an alternative, in the interim here.

Thanks again...

 

If someone could be so kind as to post a pic and/or a description of the exact location of the heater core (my "Haynes" manual seems pretty useless, as usual) it would really, really help me.

I'm wondering (really "needing" to know) the best angle to approach this from - outside? Inside? Underneath?

Once I get in position I'm gonna be "locked" into position (I necessarily "have to be") for long periods. Just the nature of my spine situation...

Did I mention that I'm "thinking" (HOPING??) the core can be by-passed with a piece of copper tube or a plastic tee? Is this correct?

 

i'll take a look. in a bmw you can certainly bypass the heater core lines with a tube. i think the issue here maybe accessibility. we're talking about this part correct?

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/partgrp.d...14&hg=64&fg=15

 

Yes, thank you very much - access is exactly what I'm referring to...where do I want to be to "get to it", or "get at it" - under the dash? Under the hood? Under the car? Please - yes - thank you again, and in advance...

*UPDATED* The Brits must refer to it (the heater core) as a Heater "Matrix", and Haynes says to remove the battery and batt. tray to access said Matrix ...

So, battery out/removed, no problem. Two of the three tray bolts loosened/removed - no problem, but of course, the third bolt appears to have been over-tightened (i.e. - now STRIPPED), and the head is recessed (of course...naturally) - so what might we do here please - drill it out?
**UPDATE #2** It gets more confusing now - of course...
As I mentioned, there's been no loss of coolant/antifreeze in the system (not in the expansion tank nor the radiator itself - unless there is one HELLUVA big air-pocket that I don't know of/can't possibly see??).
I pulled back the carpet on the passenger side floor, and again, there is NO evidence of any fluid/liquid having run down from the firewall area - though the carpet down lower - on the floorboard was quite wet.
Now, in crawling under the vehicle, I see that the power-steering seems to be leaking, and when I check the reservoir, sure-enough, it's a bit low (level is just below the cap-stick, so as to not register on the stick).
These power-steering pumps are (somehow) tied-into the cooling system, correct?
The power-steering-cooling fan was replaced at a MINI dealer last year, and how I found-out that it needed replacing was when my temp gauge spiked on me one evening while idling in neutral. What in the HELL could I possibly have going-on here - now?!?

 

Hello Everyone, this is my first post, I´ve been reading so many post and this page has been so useful to me that now that my heater core broke and I couldn´t find any pictures to find the freaking thing so here they are

In the first picture you can see the two tubes that go to the heater core and the place where the core goes

On the second one, there´s the plastic cover that´s right next to the gas pedal, it has three gold torx screws being the one at the top left corner the hardest to remove.

But before doing that you have to remove the gas pedal, here, on the 3rd pic you can see the base of the pedal, take a screwdriver to take it off, it just slides to the left.

Hope it helps

Carlos